Lionheart by Genevieve Nnaji Review
By Kenenna Anyaegbunam
Ninety-four minutes of screen time, a star-studded cast and a fairly tight script have earned Lionheart and Genevieve Nnaji a spot in the histories as the first Nigerian movie to be acquired by popular media-services provider Netflix, and along with that, $3.8 million.
The movie is centred around Adaeze Obiagu (Genevieve Nnaji); an executive member of Lionheart, a bus transportation company owned by her father Chief Ernest Obiagu (Pete Edochie). An intelligent and competent Adaeze, with the originally unsolicited help of her crude and eccentric Uncle, Godswill Obiagu (Nkem Owoh), is left with the challenge of running her father’s ailing company when he suddenly falls ill. The movie manages to capture the challenges of a female in a male-dominated industry, with a plot slightly different from the norm.
The cinematography was surprisingly brilliant, capturing angles and shots not usually seen in your average Nollywood movie, and location and scenery was picked almost to perfection. Sadly, these were by far the best things about the entire movie.
The movie lacked any sort of finesse to be considered a blockbuster and this was only cushioned by the vast array of Nollywood stars that took up the roles. The scenes were lazy and seemed rushed as if the entire movie were shot in a single week or less. The plot, which I somewhat enjoyed, played on family values, unity in diversity; through the cultures portrayed, spun with a bit of comedy, that I believe was an effort to try to keep the viewer from dosing off or reaching for their phones.
Acting in question, Nkem Owoh, as always, was simply a delight, followed closely by Genevieve who I strongly believe could have given a more convincing and captivating performance. The movie also featured the acting debut of musicians Peter Okoye and Phyno, who were quite below average if I’m being generous, and made no lasting impressions of their roles.
In all the movie was slightly above bearable, considering the picture quality it was portrayed in and its illustrious cast. As an input, I feel better directing would have greatly improved the scenes and possibly even changed my entire perception of the movie. Considering this being Genevieve’s first role as a director, I see big room for improvement and hope to see better screen plays from one of my favourite actors in the industry. Honest rating is a weak 5.
